Sony has been forced to withdraw the anticipated 2.4 PS3 firmware just a few hours after the update became available, because the new code has apparently been playing havoc with consoles.
Patrick Seybold, Sony's public relations bigwig, last night posted a message on the official PS3 blog admitting that the consumer electronics …

@Alex Walsh

@EA AC

IMHO neither console is good enough for 1080p 60fps (True HD as Kaz likes to call it), the only thing which can do it is the PC :)

Ok i got a question for you, as an insider to the whole development game, can you give a no-bullshit. unbiased assessment of the potential of each platform? From my limited vantage point it seems that the Xbox is orders of magnitude easier to code for but the PS3 has more theoretical power but is much harder to unlock. Is that close to the truth?

re Stewart Knight

The 360 hasn't got a 3 year warrenty as standard, it has a 3 year warranty for one fault only, a known fault, the RROD. If you phone up with a 14 month old console and say your consoles hanging, and you haven't got the RROD, it will not be covered (of course the sensible thing to do would be to blatantly lie and say it does have the RROD)

Firmware updates & ACs

First of all, we've all become very casual about firmware updates haven't we? I mean, it used to be that a firmware update was a Bios update only. Now with the 360 and PS3 it's the entire OS on the console. Of course even when Windows service packs arrive, how many people simply click 'OK' to install without a thought? I know I'm guilty of this.

So, perhaps, just perhaps mind, before we download and install the latest and greatest firmware, we'd be well advised to perform a backup to USB of our game save data and user profiles? Game updates and anything else downloaded from the PS Store can easily be re-downloaded. Backups. Who'd have thought they would come in handy? Basic procedure for upgrading the OS/Firmware on any computer should be to backup your data. Buy yourself a 4GB USB drive and slap it into the system and backup before doing the firmware update. That way if the update knackers the HDD, you can reformat your HDD and start over, restoring everything from your backup.

Just a thought.

To the rest of the Anon Cows and fonbois of various consoles here's a couple more thoughts. 1) the number of PS3s having a HDD issue during this update is by no means large, nor is it even a fraction of the failure rate of the RROD on 360. To dismiss the RROD as if it was just this small one off problem is kind of like living in Kansas and dismissing a Tornado as a one off event. 2) one stalled and soon to be replaced firmware update does not a console kill. 3) No, Sony fanboys, this isn't insignificant either, it's real news and will be reported and discussed. 4) post update the PS3 is not acting weird or making funny noises, you are simply far more observant at this time because a) you just updated and are looking for any problems that may occur, and b) you've read reports of the update bricking systems and so you're hyper vigilant looking for issues. Therefore every oddity or noise that you'd have ignored before is suddenly of great importance, even though it really isn't. Finally 5) Why is is that no matter the article whenever these consoles are mentioned the usual fanboy arguments always get trolled out as if they are relevant? Are your reading comprehension scores really that low?

@ Which ever Anonymous Coward it is this time

Yes, I wrote the first comment from memory, and then went back to look at it. There is currently a 317 post thread on the matter on the popular forum of website www.eurogamer.net. Whether it is Euros or GBP is a moot point however as initially the chap was told by Sony customer care he would have to pay. However much you wish to derail my point with pointless pedantry, you sir are doomed to failure.

LOL

@EA AC

Hmm EA (or your corner of EA at least) are considering dropping PS3 development? I'd be surprised if that happened as i've read a number of analyst analyses of the console market and they all say the PS3 will be outstripping sales of the 360 sooner rather than later. But then again analyst analyses is like saying military intelligence so who know what to believe :P And besides the really winner this time around is the Wii by a country mile but both MS and Sony pretend it doesn't exist :)

Anyway thanks for the word from the inside and as for have one of each on your desk... its a tough life :P

re "LOL" by AC

First Eurogamer are supposed to be on the Sony payroll (see the gushing PS3 previews and the links to threespeech), then they're supposed to be on the MS payroll. I wish you whiners would make up your minds!

Situation normal - no problems to report

Updated my < 3 month old 40GB model to 2.40 without a hitch so it's not a "problem with newer models".

I had already (and recently - like, in the past week) upgraded the 40GB HDD in my PS3 to a 120GB unit. Also without a hitch.

The 2.40 update went smoothly despite my PS3 having been upgraded by me.

I can't help but wonder if there might be something extraordinarily unusual about the "victim" machines, or perhaps something as simple as a corrupt download or dodgy HDD sector (does the update/download service incorporate a verification checksum procedure? I would have thought so, but....?)

Paris because she knows that trophies are for boys - real men don't need to compare theirs with their friends.

re "LOL" by AC

Indeedy Mr Tom (Bramwell?).

Besides accusing the main editorial part of the site with bias is again a moot point, the forum does pretty much its own thing and a lot of the regulars don't venture "abroad" to the front page much. There are plenty of devs and programmers registered on there and "fanboy" threads tend to get stamped on pretty quickly.

@ Highlander

You're probably correct about me being more observant of the noises the PS3 is making. I have only had it a week though, so I'm not entirely sure what the "Correct" noises are yet. The loading noise is basically the same one all CD based consoles make, so I'm guessing it's normal.

Firmware has nothing to do with the hard drive

Firmware has nothing to do with the hard drive, except its stored there BEFORE flashing the rom chip , erase the hard drive if you want but its a waste of time you will still have the last firmware you installed on there, there is no way to remove it, sony shouldl just bring out a 2.41 that overwrites.

although i have had no issues at all since install , very disapointed i cant play form the meida servers whilst in game though, i have noaudio on my ps3 hard drive itself so its pretty useless, i guess if i really wanted i could copy some stuff across but.

@ Chizo

I didnt mean all PS3 development just certain titles that I could not confirm here.

The one I could confirm since its already been anounced would be red alert 3.

As for Mr Rockstar,

Your right mate I should deffo tell you my name and that I work on the 2nd floor of our guildford studios currently working on the next harry potter game I should also give you my NI number to make the job of my boss even easier I mean why wouldnt he mind me posting this stuff?

Re: EA

As Abe says, EA is a big company and different departments are doing different things. I too have heard from a few people that some titles that aren't expected to make a profit on the PS3 have been dropped from that platform. Different consoles have different demographics, and there's also the question of counter-programming - e.g. going PS3-exclusive for a while wasn't much of a problem for Epic's UT3, when the original release date would have meant it would have been competing for 360-owners' money with Halo 3.

Just the other day they announced a whole new brand for EA Sports Wii exclusives, for example; meanwhile your more traditional ones won't be going there.